Good morning to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you that celebrate this holiday! Today I am coloring one of our new fairies from the Return to Winter Wonderland collection.

This beautiful fairy is Time Together and isn't she just precious? I love all the new fairies in this collection, such pretty faces and I love their little outfits too. I colored her with my copics and colored pencils and added lots of sparkle. Not many embellishments on this card because I wanted the fairy to be the focal point. The sentiment is Crafty Impressions' Warm Winter Wishes. You can find both the fairy and the sentiment at Funky Kits.

Good morning everyone...did you enjoy the new release day and have you all picked your favourites yet?...for my card today I used this little bit of sugary sweetness, she is called Gingerbread Cookies...isn't
she gorgeous?...I coloured her with my usual distress inks and used
colours that your probably used to seeing summer rather than for a
Christmas card but I think they work great for her don't you...all the details of my card are on my blog if you would like to pop by...thanks for stopping by and have a great day

Woodware stamp set Home for Christmas - Diane W. http://pink-sunflower.blogspot.co.uk/

A wee mouse from Quernus - Cazz

A broach from Flossy Tea Cake - Sharon Patterson

Leave your addresses here in a comment, I will not publish, and I will send those out to you. Congratulations to you all.

Now how about you share with me this weekend.

Facebook has taken over from blogging, I find a lot of makers selling via FB and a much as I try to remember and "like" them , I missed one and can not find it.Grrrr

Can you help me find her?

So it's knitted rabbits, might even be Julie's Little Cotton Rabbit pattern. But these have cotton dresses and little cardigan. Her order book was closed and I am sure it was a page I recognised, so though I would easy remember. Wrong. It's driving me crazy.

If you know, share with me please.

Any other must have cutie sewn things I need, let me know. I don't need a pointer to Tabby crafts or Rocky Loves Rosey, got those :)

But I still have a few OOAK to buy for pressies.

I mucked up this weekend, got my dates wrong and ended up with 150 cup cakes. That's some amount of cups of tea. And on a Sunday, looks like I will be knocking on doors tomorrow giving everyone local an early Christmas treat. My fault and apologies to Katie who worked hard in the kitchen baking and decoration them.

Firstly a huge thank you to our fantastic design team for the stunning cards they took time to make for our launch yesterday. If you missed it read on to the next post because this time everything is here on the blog. Thanks also to Gayle for organising it and writing up the post. If not an exciting time waiting to see what you make of the new images, I wonder who's already coloured theirs up? Remember that they are on a special launch price for the rest of today only.

With all our demos and classes in the house of sugar passed, and the images loaded over at Funkykits for the new release yesterday, it was time for a break.

Both myself and Kate were off to visit Glasgow and the Country Living Fair. I went down with a friend on Thursday and Kate went on Saturday. It will be interesting to compare notes as it was the first time I had attended.

I was looking out for Kirsten from Quernus who has a stall, before I found her I bumped into a customer who told me I really needed to see the stand with the wee mice! YES, you guessed it, Kirsten makes the cutest little mice from clay. It was a delight to chat with her and learn that she might even come visit us for a workshop in her wee van.!

https://www.facebook.com/QuernusCrafts

Next on my list was the home of the cutest little caravans and houses don't you think?

Flossy and Mr Flossy were there, wonderful young talent. Clay again but they looked like they could be fabric.

https://www.facebook.com/flossyteacake01

And by chance a few stalls down I discover another mixed media artist, Emily who was a student at the same school as Flossy, both friends who attended the fair to exhibit their talents independently.

https://www.facebook.com/emilynotmanmixedmedia

Those were my top three. I would have loved more handmade Indie crafters but its just so much money to do these shows, four days hotel and food on top of the cost of table, lucky if the smaller stand could do it for £2k!

It's great to see young talent showcasing, sadly they may well be head hunted as designers for bigger companies who then have the range made overseas. But for now they have my support which is important to them and me, after all if I did my Christmas shopping in the big stores, would I be thanked?

Would the boss take time to chat to me about how much he loves his job?

Would I make a difference?

If you answered No to any of the above, your might be the key to a small business surviving difficult trading ties and having a successful Christmas, not to mention the feel good factor you get visiting small businesses either in your local town, facebook or etsy, giving gifts with a little thought behind them.

Go " like " these girls, tell them Karen @ sugar Nellie sent you over, it's a delight to have them pop up on you FB feed. And I have a give away, chosen from those comment I see on those FB sites.

Buy local, support the independents, buy original gifts. It matters.

Now all I have left to do is draw a couple of names for last weeks give away.

But how about another give away today?

Let me come back to you with those, it's time for breakfast and a photo or two for you to win.

But, firstly, I'd like to thank our Design Team for their fabulous creations but, I'd also like to thank Lisjoining us for this launch, and also to Fionafor the gorgeous colouring she did for our banners.

So, without any further ado, I'm going to let them reveal themselves to you, with a little help from our amazing Design Team!

All five decadent digi's available to buy from Funkykits...HERE!Snap them up this weekend as, they have a 'Super Sparkle Price' of only £2 each for this launch weekend only!!!
(normal price will be £2.95 from Monday 25/11/13 )

Now, as always, it's not a launch without some candy...so, please leave some love for our fabulous Design Team both here and on their own blogs, and I'll pick some winners at random to receive some digi candy!

Good morning sweet friends. Are you excited about our Return to Winter Wonderland release this weekend? I can promise that you are going to love these new images.

Today I have used this sweet Little Boots for my card. I used copics and colored pencils to color this adorable girl and her dog. I love that she has these boots for her doggy to wear. I can't let my grandson see this card or he will definitely want some boots for his new puppy to wear outside in the cold weather lol! I added a diecut flourish and flowers and added some pearls to their centers. You can find this stamp and lots more over at Funky Kits.

Good morning everyone I hope your all well and having a good week...are you all looking forward to the Winter Wonderland new release at the weekend...your going to love them all I promise

my card for today is using a Sugar Nellie Simply adorable and its one of my all time favourites...hes called Nathan and like all the adorable's hes a dream to colour...I think its that precious look on his face...all the details are on my blog as always...thanks for stopping by today and I hope wherever you are its warmer than here bbbbrrrrr

This week has been busy in the House Of Sugar, our last demonstrations and classes of the year! Now we can tidy up and prep for 2014.

In Elgin, Jenny Trueman was our inspiration this Saturday. I would like to share a few of her cards here.

These are Less is More cards and this is the trend I am following personally. Not too much colouring and only 20 mins and your done!

I would like to share these stamps with you too...

These are the clear stamps from Woodware which Jenny used. We have loved many stamps from this UK company this year and it has been our most popular stamp brand in store for 2013. Funky kits do sell this brand too.

We will be getting these uploaded next week along with many others.

But today I would love to give the chance to win these sets, away to my readers. I will share these out between two. Just leave me a comment as to which one you would like to play with and if you are first out of the hat, you will get your choice.( Second pick with get the other set).

Talk in the HOS has been hilarious this week, between making a Mrs Brown type you tube video tutorial in a strong Scottish ascent and typical humour.

And Elf on the shelf feever has hit us. With this traditionally America Christmas tradition being available in the UK this year, we have plans to make ;)

Are you getting ready to colour?

How about you share this banner on your blog please. Maybe if we get enough word out there, I will be able to do a special price for launch weekend?

But I would love you to help us reach out to stampers and let them know, I can't do it on my own and you have always been good to us, our customers have been the driving force of this business.

We have not aspired to be big, I much rather have a small friendly customer orientated brand than loose touch with sugar addicts and friends. We have been there and done that in 2009 and the stress and work load near killed me.

Our design team and sugar bowl sweeties are the best and as part of our wee family, they showcase the art brilliantly. As they are busy creating, the rest of us can spread the word, the count down has begun.

Hello sweet friends! Today I'm sharing a card I made using one of my older Sugar Nellie stamps.

This sweet couple is called Mistletoe and the stamp is from the Christmas Manga collection. I think this image is perfect for a young couple sharing their first Christmas together ... or maybe even an older couple celebrating their first Christmas! I colored these cuties with copics and added some colored pencil for shading. My papers are some fun patterns from BoBunny and I added some snowflakes that I diecut from glittery paper. A very clean and simple card that should not cost a fortune to mail! You can find this stamp and lots of others from the Manga collection over at Funky Kits.

Hello everyone! It's a very dull day here in Oldmeldrum and it seems very dark outside which is just reminding me how close Christmas is. This afternoon I am thinking of putting an Xmas display in the window. Too early?? We had a busy weekend in the shop with two stamp camp classes with Fiona Stewart going on upstairs and a demo with Jenny Trueman downstairs. A big thank you to you two ladies who continue to support the shop with new ideas and everlasting advice for our customers. An even bigger thank you to the ladies that come along to the our demos and classes. We wouldn't be able to have all the fun that we do without you! Apart from two evening classes that is Creative Boutique done with classes and demos for 2013. We will be back in Feb with something new for you all to try, a technique workshop or some non cardy classes maybe?I am off now to try and salvage a carrot cake loaf that I made earlier. It appears to have just collapsed and although it tastes amazing it does have beauty on its side. Maybe I will just eat it and solve the problem!Katie

Good morning everyone its my turn for some sugary sweetness today and I wanted to revisit an oldie... how cute is this sweetie and perfect for a little boys card...hes called ChristmasPuppets...brilliant isn't he...he was from the christmas Sparkle & Shine digi release and he is one of my favourites from that release...don't forget about the older digis Christmas digis don't age do they?, you can find all the details here on my blog...thanks for stopping by today and have a good one

I'm not here today, I am off having my six weekly appointment at the hairdressers, it's an 80 mile round trip...yes, 80 miles! Most women will understand my little 'pecadillo', good hairdressers are hard to find, and when you find one, you hang onto them, even if it means an 80 mile round trip!

So, here in the UK ,as in most countries, we commemorate the men and women who died for our countries.

I know that in other countries, you wear different flowers and symbols on this day but, here in the UK, we wear red poppies.

This year, our good friend Erikadecided to crochet some and sell them, with all funds going straight to The British Legionwho do such amazing work with our war veterans.

I am fortunate enough to own one of these, and they are even more stunning in reality, and for such a good cause.

They have made me fall in love with crochet, just a little bit more, if that's possible?

The other thing which has me besotted by crochet at the moment, are these little beauties, a tutorial for which, you can find HERE

Aren't they pretty?

I really must learn to crochet, perhaps it can be my crafty 'New Years Resolution'....